Greek duo Keep Shelly In Athens' first EP for Planet Mu is in keeping with a consistent level of odd synth-pop that the label has released from Tropics to Vezelay, and Heterotic to Solar Bears. They first came to the label's attention with their remix of Solar Bears 'Cub', an awesome re-imagining of the track from SB's 'She Was Coloured In' album. The remix is a monumental slice of cold but blissful synth pop, with stadium-sized reverbs and punched-in repetitive vocals over rumbling guitars and punchy drums. 'The Chains' has all the off-key atmosphere of an Italian horror film soundtrack with the band's female singer intoning a melody that could come from a 'Violator'-era Depeche Mode song. The whole song breaks down towards the end into an intense finale. The EP's title track 'Campus Martius' has a giant humming bassline, with electronic drums scratching away like insects flying at windows, as a gentle piano line ripples over the top painting a feeling of airy pleasure while vocal samples drop a melody at altered pitches in a scene of tentative bliss. Finally, 'Struggle With Yourself' pits Sarah's raw singing over a weird acidic bassline that could easily sound at home on a Coil record along with loose guitar strums, before the track breaks into light spoken word and angelic vocals, finishing off as it started, but with a stark warning.

Venetian Snares, aka Winnipeg's Aaron Funk, follows up last year's acclaimed 'Cubist Reggae' with another four track EP. In the words of the man himself : "One of these tracks is about my 2 friends. I really love them, they are good people and really great friends. After I recorded the track, I had a vision that they became the same entity, like some kind of human spider hybrid, which I really didn't like as I don't think of them like that at all. The tune is not about that whatsoever but I kept thinking about that for a good 2 or 3 days. It was chilling. See if you can guess which song it is! Another, I wrote using only tweeters so it was hard to make out anything other than hi-hats. Still, it sounds much better than most music that has been recorded. See if you can guess which one it is! There is a track that mainly uses analog devices to control digital devices. It seems laughable that most people want to control their analog synths with midi, imposing their ridiculous choice of notes on the music. They are pretty much rapists. I have enabled these devices to communicate in a mutually respectful, consensual embrace. See if you can guess which track is 100% free of blatant narcissism! The final tune is a ramp, an inclined plane, or a crescendo of sorts in music, stretched out over a number of minutes. It's like a pyramid wall made from every thought you've ever thought of becoming immeasurably more discernible, yet built upon a river of everything you've tried to forget. The river is grey and all thoughts you've ever had are all other colors but mainly maroon and silver. See if you recognize your thoughts in this one!"

Skuge is Hugues Croibien, a 30 year old Belgian electronic music producer who brings a whole new level of detail, sounds and expression to the current underground bass music movement. Seen live alongside some of the scene's most respected producers including Kanji Kinetic, Mustard Gunn, Ebola and Subjex, SkŁge certainly has a unique and powerful sound you will struggle to find elsewhere. Imagine this... inspiration from the micro-edit, mash-up ways of breakcore, combine it with ragga and reggae vibes and then play it out through a towering sound system in an '80s video game arcade. An awesome concoction of well produced beats, blips and melodies enabling you to take control of any dance floor, get the most concerted beat diggers head-nodding as well as defeat that end of level boss! The opening track 'Runn On A Band' will take any current beatstrumental and permanently overwrite it with addictive head-nodding vibes. 'Mesecina' brings on the broken but flowing beats with an 8-bit, snake-charming lead. 'Katerish' lifts the pounding rhythm to the next level with it's dancehall beat, evolving and rumbling bassline and retuned rave hoovers. 'Robotator Kinely Abstract' brings a collapsing bit-crunched beat and chipped-out bass and lead, sure to make people pull all the shapes on the dance floor. 'Billy Hillys' takes over the club with its 4/4 percussion, driving yet stuttered kick drum and micro-edit bass. 'Gambula' drops the amens in to the mix to great effect with an amazing and complex combined bass and lead. 'Grieg' uses a clever bassline reworked from the Inspector Gadget theme tune and finally 'Mario' is the well-known Nintendo game theme tune with an awesome AFX-esque bouncing ball drum pattern. This release will be a strictly limited 100-copy CD with screen printed fold out poster-sleeve and digital download code.

Sometimes friends and lovers might move out of state or their priorities change in life.With this kind of change it might cause you not to be able to see and spend time with that special person as much or even at all. It has been said to truly love someone you must learn to let them go, let them fly, and if the love was real then it will return back.

As time passes without them around you learn a lot about yourself and let new people in your life. Then there are those moments you tend to miss old loves and friends and you want to reach out. So reconnecting is important to not only gain perspective but to keep yourself and friendships healthy.

This album was made to hopefully reestablish a bond with friends I have made a connection within the music biz. These musician's sounds have inspired and shape me into the person I am today and for that I am grateful. 'Reconnecting' is for my friends who shared this time with me.

The Church of Synth used to be a Techno producer who also played live sets throughout Germany, but got bored about stereotype sounds in the scene and clubs of his home town. Based in Hanover, the founder of TCoS grew up surrounded by vintage analogue synthesizers collected by his father, from whom he not only inherited his love of, but also the knowledge to repair, tune, upgrade and circuit bend these precious machines. Following long, depressive days listening to the lament and problems of his patients (as the founder is currently completing his studies in psychological therapy) he decided to let off steam and turning to his synths, in one single night, he laid down the principal skeleton for tracks; Der Fall des Leviathan (The Fall of Leviathan), Christuskirche (Christ Church) and Kathedrale der Ewigen Leere (Catherdral of Emptiness), in a seemingly uninterrupted stream. From then on, he was hooked to this new exciting sound. Being a synth worshipper since his early days, it seemed a simple choice to adopt the moniker - The Church of Synth - for his new vehicle. After uploading his first few tracks to Soundcloud, (under the "Witch House" tag) his material immediately caught the attention of such recognised labels as Tundra Dubs, Phantasma Disques and east London independent, Robot Elephant Records (ISVOLT, Husband) - the latter, releasing his self-titled debut LP, in late October. Like a painter working with a particular palette, TcOS, who sees himself as a "sound researcher", specifically chose the set of instruments, drums and sounds, which can be heard throughout all 6 tracks. Only the guitars on track Die Paradoxen Gebote Gottes (God's Paradox Commandments) - resembling the sounds of Neurosis after smoking bath salts - were recorded.Being sustainable but incomplete, TCoS needed visual interpretation. Taking the supporting role in numerous past live sets, befriended visual artist "renderfarm" naturally became a part of TCoS. Inspired by seclusion and the abbysses of our souls, TCoS's silent part set out to fuse their sound with our mind's eye.Coquetting with gothic imagery and images, he initially tried to set foot in Hannover's vibrant gothic scene, however he had to go as far as London to be able to play his first ever live show as TCoS - supporting Ritualz, at his debut UK London show, recently at CAMP Basement. Additional download content comes in the form of three bonus tracks, by three outstanding pioneering artists laying their hands on lead track Der Fall des Leviathan - A dark diamond with bouncing beats and murderous drones, in the end garnished with a redeeming pop break down. The dark drone lord of Wisconsin - Burial Hex , Londons rising star of avantguarde sound art and drone scene - The Haxan Cloak - and Perth-based Ourobonic Plague.

2010 was a productive year for Lost Idol, the alter-ego of producer/DJ/label-owner James Dean. He released his second album, 'Brave The Elements', to great acclaim, deftly crafting a record of electronic-based music that sparkled with invention & reflected influences across the board from krautrock to dubstep to psychedelia & beyond. This led to live shows alongside esteemed artists such as Caribou, Fujiya & Miyagi, Pantha Du Prince & Dextro.

His first new work for 2011, entitled 'In Time & Space', was written specifically for a Lost Idol performance at London's beautiful Union Chapel; due to the huge space & reverberating acoustics within the building, James put together a new set which by & large ditched the drums & instead focused on building many different layers of sound & textures using a variety of analogue synths, treated guitars & looped vocals creating something all-absorbing & spatial. The result is one extensive piece with four distinct sections that ebb & flow, crescendo & fade, pulling the listener into an immersive soundscape that aptly reflects the mystique & majesty of the space for which it was designed.

It's a truly absorbing listen & once again shows Lost Idol to be constantly progressing, this time pushing his sound towards the realms of ambient, kosmiche musik & beyond.

Solar Bears' music is a many-faceted soundworld that hangs together through a mix of the rich colours of hip hop inflected analogue electronica with touches of the shimmering neon synths of late 70s / early 80s Kosmiche music. It's warm and organic with a languid, pastoral grace that intertwines acoustic and rock instruments with electronics. Their tracks twist through prog rock's structures and sounds, occasionally making sharp turns into noisier, tense post rock territory. Check the way 'Trans Waterfall' gently builds from its synth lead melody through passages of tense guitar building into gentle acoustic guitars and flutes. Or the way 'Photo Negative Living' rolls along dreamily on a 4/4 beat before the slicing guitar riffs crash in. This is gorgeous stuff. On Side B, 'Crystalline' gets a remix by Letherette which deconstructs the original and spins it through a head nodding hip hop remix, whilst Lone gives 'Twin Stars' a pulsing, atmospheric, upbeat Detroit techno influenced rub.

In the words of Mr V. Snares : " 'My So-Called Life' is the first release on my brand new record label Timesig. The majority of these tracks were made quite quickly, in a day or two each. These are the ones I feel closest to, I can listen to one of these ten tracks and remember that day exactly, all that I was feeling, just where my head was at, whether it was a good memory, a laugh, something that was bugging me or something bumming me out. Listening brings me back to that day, whereas hearing some of my other albums brings me back to some period in my life in general. I was explaining to a friend the other day, it was more like a collection of short stories than a novel for me. Diary entries he said, and they really are, pockets of inspiration realized within a day. For me it is remote viewing my own memories with clearer and clearer mind binoculars. All important pieces in my puzzle, this kind of filing system I have that sits outside my cognitive filing yet is clear in this system. Of course all of this probably means nothing to you but you have to write something in these things so when you send out promos nobody has to think of anything thoughtful to say about it themselves. Usually I write a bunch of preposterous shit to poke fun at that whole process but I didn't feel like that today. Maybe tomorrow I will."

In the spirit of exploring the influence of Dntel's earliest material over the past decade of electronic and indie music production, Phthalo has asked several artists who've said they were inspired by that work to reapproach those songs with their own modern and varied takes on the source material. The result is 'Early Works, Later Versions', a limited EP of new, updated remixes and variations by several of Jimmy Tamborello's peers and contemporaries. Running through some of the artists on hand for this task, To Rococo Rot's Robert Lippok has clearly done this sort of thing before, and starts off by updating 'Serious' into a twinkling and blippy rendering of the original, in many ways reminiscent of his 'Falling Into Komeit' remix album several years ago. A new version of 'New Name' by Chessie (Plug Research, Drop Beat) drops in indie guitar progressions to recall a lightweight take on electro, and Somatic Responses (Leaf Label, Hymen Records) drenches 'Tybalt 60' with gritty and thunderous stabs of broken percussion. Finally, newcomer Thaddeus Valk uses an arpeggiated synth intro to rework 'Casuals' into some other kind of tune from the 1990s - almost an IDMmeetsravemeetsjungle hybrid a la Metalheadz-via-Oakenfold.

Two and a half years after the conception of the club night, Illum Sphere and Jonny Dub launch their Hoya:Hoya label. Releasing exclusive music by artists who have played at the night, which happens fortnightly at seminal Manchester basement, The Roadhouse. Simply reading the list of past guests will provide an insight into the variety of music forthcoming on the imprint. The first split 12/ download is a purely family affair though, featuring the three producing residents, Illum Sphere, Lone and Krystal Klear.

Starting things of is co-founder Illum Sphere, with Sweat The Descent. A trip that was intended to be a take on UK Funky, which veered off to the left, and ended up being inspired by House as much as Disco, mutated into a sound that is characteristically hard to define by genre as any other of his releases.

The flip begins with Lones Let The Music Play, flexing the early sounds of Chicago House blended with the sounds of 90s rave, but done in such a way that only Matt Cutler can do. His recent releases on Actress Werk Discs and his own Magic Wire labels should let you into the world that this new Hoya recruit is going.

Rounding things off is Krystal Klear, modern boogie resident in chief. Persuaded Me is at home at LA summer parties, such as The Do Over as it is in a sweaty Manchester basement. Heavily influenced by 80s boogie, but treated with the respect only a real fan could, and brought oh-so up to date.

Second 12" release on the Unheards Unicycle Nutfish label, This one's a nine tracker. Kicking off with 'Dreamcatcher' and 'Slow Motion' ,a couple of warm baby nuggets, though very different from each other. Track 3 'Piece of mind' is a dreamy and relaxing, soulfull and delayed out piano'ey type groove over a tidy rimshot break, nice. Track 4 'The Contraption' is more of a mid tempo bassline and breakbeat driven number thats kind of on the daft tip. Track 5 'Cameo Groove' is a 95 bpm funkin' epic cut & paste excursion and at 7m 41s is the longest track. Flippin over, Track 6 'Flying spaghetti monster' is the second cut & paste on more of a random tip, takes you from 90bpm to 120bpm in 6 minutes, but how it gets there is kind of interesting. Next up Track 7 'Guidance' a 4 minute upbeat Mr scruff storyboard type number that kind of tells it's own story... Track 8, 'Gimmie some sunshine' is a bright and upbeat, energetic and sunny groove that reflects in it's title, And finally Track 9 'Titanium duck foot' an uptempo bassy breakbeat number with dancefloor potential, that entually breaks into a stringy cresendo, and then melts away. Overall quite an eclectic mix of styles, enjoy.

Corrosion' is the sound-expanding and often-stunning new album from one of Ireland's unsung electronic heroes, Anodyne'. Known for his mind shredding live shows, Colin N Cloughley aka Anodyne returns after a 14 year hiatus to present his latest opus, which effortlessly blends elements of old skool rave, electro and breakbeat into a darkly beautiful electronic LP. Thinking of himself as more of a programmer than a musician, Anodyne utilizes his own, home built plug-ins and circuit bent instruments to great effect throughout the album's 12 tracks. From the outset of minimalistic opener 'When The Sky Fell Down', swiftly followed by the epic strings and breakbeats of 'Close Your Eyes', the listener is lead into experiments in dark electro, acid and ambient before returning to the stunning 'Wasteland', with its driving electronic pulse surrounded by warm, sombre strings, evoking memories of the glory days of electronic innovation. 'Chemical Sunset', which was inspired by a drive through Dublin as sunlight faded, is a beautiful example of the Anodyne's artistic vision of techno. 'Walk Into Darkness', a dark ambient journey ruptured with clinical, austere beats leads into the albums closing track, the end of the night anthem, 'Alchemy'. Taking influence from classic electronic albums by Autechre, Black Dog and U-Ziq, 'Corrosion' was made for those who dream of the future.

An Taobh Tuathail Vol. III' is the new compilation CD from RTE (Ireland) cult underground music show An Taobh Tuathail ("The Other Side"), which celebrates ten years on the air this year. The 15 track compilation is once again compiled by mainman Cian 0 Ciobhain. In his own words O Ciobhain says: "The CD features torch songs from contemporary female vocalists such as Essie Jain and Roshi ft Pars Radio. It also includes elegiac electronica from Gdsank-based composer Jacasek, and The Caretaker, an artist currently residing in Berlin, whose explorations in music and memory have intrigued me. There's a beautiful song from Austin band Peter & The Wolf which has been played regularly on the show since its release in 2006. Also, to have stellar songs from established artists like Animal Collective and Circlesquare on the disc means a lot to me. Closer to home, the CD includes tracks by Dublin's Rollers/Sparkers, Kilkenny's R.S.A.G. and Galway's Loner Deluxe and B-Movie Lightning (aka Mike Smalle, previously of Cane 141, whose tracks were featured on the other two compilations). Elsewhere, Mount Kimbie's magical dub-excursion 'Maybes' was the first track played on the show in 2009... so let the disc speak for itself...

Four track instrumental 12" from L.A.-based (via Portland) producer DevonWho. Fresh from his recent Fat City producer series release he expands here to give us four tracks with a nod to the spacey electronic funk vibe of West Coast producers like Dam Funk. He has been making some noise in the West Coast's thriving beat scene and this debut solo release should cement his growing rep. As always it comes packaged in super full colour artwork.

The idea of a musical compilation for children took seed little by little. Initially envisioned as an extension of the role of their starry-eyed little miss DJ, the project soon took a much more universal turn. The basic concept, of a music compilation for babies and pregnant women, was rapidly enriched by the work and influence of the many artists involved to the project. They fed their influence, respective capabilities and style into the mix, and the result: we are taken in by the Quenums African rythms and enchanted by an electronic nursery rhyme from DJ Lad.

Their double compilation - a dynamic mix of musical material - was forged around two principal themes - the first, awakening and motion, is soberly entitled "Wake Up", and the other, based around sleep and bedtime is entitled, of course, "Sleep Well". The link between these two contrasting themes is, of course, the world of children, but it is also that of electronic music production. That is, music based on computer programming (even if, in some cases, there might be some analogue intruments involved). Sonic creative freedom gave life to an uncomparable patchwork of influences, creating a extraordinary musical toy, and quite surprisingly, an effective pedagogical tool, that opens up kids minds, as well as those of their parents, to an unexpected facet of electronic music, where it meets the magical world of childrens imagination - let yourself be swept away.

Its one year on from our decision to start our new record label, Nang. Despite reaching hitting new levels in the pecuniary sensibility department, we have an upcoming schedule full of some of the most amazing music.

Much in the way our Daddy label Tirk produces its best-of / new&cool compilation range TIRK01, TIRK02 etc... we have followed suit. 'The Array' is a new series of all that is great in Nang world.

A big part of 2009 for us was the Space project. We've spent some of the craziest and most entertaining evenings with JP Iliesco Space head-honcho through the year... It would have been sacrilegious to open up with any other tune. Here is Magic Fly (for the last time we promise).

Slovenian Sare Havlicek is one of the aforementioned upcoming highlights, he is studio bound but his laid back groove 'Lazy Summer' slinks in as track two. Next up are Balearic brothers Foto with their sultry, rolling-moroder-bass smoocher. UK based Phelps lightens proceedings with his whimsical synths and irrepressibly happy synth-disco, 80's groover.

Scene cool-cat Toby Tobias is next up with his floor led stomper 'Rock You Will'. Manchester housers Weekender follow things with the olfactory titled 'Danny Pong' (no we don't know who that is either). Label uber-pals Sugardaddy present their Ilya Santana re-rub of Love Honey and Tony Underground includes his 'Omission'.

Genre-chameleon Pete Gooding and cool customer Chris Coco pair up for the next track, 'Night Dance' winging its Balearic-disco way to full release in the late Spring. Weighing in on the disco-legend-ometer Beppe Lodas MC1 project is next, Counter is all soaring synths and italo groove. We slow things down to round off with the exclusive 'Flip Flop' from Sorcerer and the haunting, down-tempo, smoulder of 'Power Of Prayer' from Ricardo Jefferson & Very Jon.

Amongst musicians, filmmaker John Carpenter receives admiration, respect and kudos like few others. Aside from the string of great films he has directed (Halloween, Escape From New York, Dark Star to name but a few) he is one of the few directors to compose and record the music for the films he makes. Things open up with Architeqs take on the John Carpenter killer-car thriller theme 'Christine'. The Scotsman using moody analog synth pads, menacing effects and some fine drumming to maximum effect. Next up, Slovenian Sare Havlicek synths-up 'Pork Chop Express' one of the choice tracks from 1986s Big Trouble In Little China. Big pads, big riffs and big oscillators all the way. Belgian King DJ goes for the jugular-catchy lead line of 1981s 'Escape From New York'. The most Italian of producers we know; Bottin, also adds his Italo sheen to proceedings.

Although strictly speaking a remix album, 'Missing Deadlines' sees Schnauss adopt the role of a master orchestrator or alchemist, rearranging and restructuring the songs of his contemporaries, as opposed to simply adorning each with throwaway beats-by-numbers. The record is a testament to Schnauss's unique aural vision, showcasing his undeniable grasp of heart-warming, heart-wrenching melody. Schnauss's telltale signiture sounds are present in each track - whether it be the ever-oscillating synth patterns, the rich, reverb-laden voices, or the euphoric beats - whilst simultaneously remaining true to the spirit of the originals. "Essentially what makes me really happy about this album is the fact that it's a selection of the - in my opinion - best mixes from a musical point of view, rather than a compilation of the commercially most succesful ones, or the tracks that have the biggest names associated with them. In all cases, the original songs are already great in their own right - which made it really inspiring to work with them." - Ulrich Schnauss

Keep Up! Records returns with another split single with its fifth installment in a series of 7" and 12"s. Tom Central features on the A side on a slightly different tack following the massive success of Akama, played by the likes of XFM's John Kennedy. Hillbrook Boogie features trademark heavy drums and big basslines, this time coupled a synth-based melodic approach. Retro sounds cut with low-slung modern disco boogie.

On the flipside Sega, Ave Blaste & Cosmo Lopez team up again after the sleeper hit Drakefield Soul on KEEP 002 supported by Nightmares on Wax. Again more electronic, this cut delves deeper, moving into the 80s soulful boogie-influenced sound. Oriental synth melodies dart around bubbling 303 basslines. Moody but upbeat with a nod to the vintage video-game sound.

Plug-ins, VSTs, MIDI-controllers, laptops. All lovely little toys that make modern music-making a whole heap easier and cleaner, but it ain't worth squat unless the person making the music has something important to say in the first place. Thus, it's refreshing to see someone take the bumpier road towards composition these days, not content to let a computer do all the hard work. Enter Deviant/Naive Ted, a true veteran of all things turntable and scratch related, who drops this debut 7" on Dublin's mighty Alphabet Set label.

While current trends in the field have producers whacking off to their J-Dilla shrines and then banging out anonymous off-time beats, this release has intense dedication and individual eccentricity slapped all over it. A bit like the old tales told by the wandering blues-man, only strapped with a Vestax deck instead of a trusty ol' six string. There's a definite message being put across, it's just that its delivered through the cut-up samples and words of his heroes from yesterday and beyond. 'Look at the stillness...look at the quiet...look at the discipline...look at the BEAUTY.'

In an out of season holiday camp on the coast of England, cult music festival All Tomorrow's Parties serves up heady combination of alternative music. Crazy golf and chalet-living; all curated by a single band or artist. This post-punk DIY bricolage uses material generated by the fans and musicians themselves, on a multiple of formats including Super8, camcorder and mobile phone, to capture the uncompromising spirit of a parallel music universe.

Airborne' is the second album from Rasmus Rasmussen's Aerosol project. Starting out as a member of the post-rock band Limp (Morr Music) with band mates Jonas Munk (Manual), Jakob Skott (Syntaks) and Jess Kahr, Rasmussen helped incubate a certain sound that the of the four have nurtured in each of their solo endeavours. Rasmussen's take on the sun-drenched post-shoegaze of the "post-Limp collective" has a more defined sense of psychedelia and openness than his mates, this heightened idea of consciousness-expansion all achieved without ever being contrived, heavy handed or excessive. There is a self-awareness to 'Airborne' that can be heard in spades on the aptly titled swirly slow-burn of 'Psychedelic Coffee Buzz' : a song written about a tour of Morocco, where sleep deprivation, sunrises and strong coffee played key roles. Tracks like the bookend pieces of 'Midnight Ride Down The Mental Freeway' and 'Softly Slipping' are blissed-out electronic shoegaze featuring sure-stepped percussion, chiming guitars, synth-lines seemingly made of ether and steadfast acoustic guitar lines. This is personal listening at its best, with every song a landscape and every one of those hazy landscapes telling its own story.

First full length from Melvin Oliphant III, aka Traxx (aka Saturn V, X2, Villan X, Mutant Beat Dance, Lost Frequencies, J/M Strap, MB Danse, The Green Goblin), former member of the Dirty Criminals alongside Daryl Cura (aka DeeCoy), and Jamal Moss (Hieroglyphic Being, IBM, Jack FM, The Sun God). Traxx has a number of well respected releases on International Deejay Gigolo, Creme Organization, and now his own label Nation. A record that clearly reflects his spiritual roots and church background as well as pushing forward his visions of Chicago circa 2009 for what he terms "jak beat", which is an extrapolation of old school jack trax into the modern era. Oliphant is certainly no slouch when it comes to spreading the musical love. Traxx has chosen to reference the groundwork laid down by 12-inch releases for Creme Organization, IDG and his own Nation imprint, to offer up eleven previously unreleased cuts of "electronic music for your mind, body and soul". Former collaborators James T Cotton aka Tadd Mullinix, vocalist Nancy Fortune and D'marc Cantu have been drafted in for an album which is said to have been nourished exclusively on a diet of vintage analogue hardware. While many DJs can't successfully execute their ideals in their own productions, Traxx's music is exactly the kind of amazing stuff that he would spin. His overwhelming passion for great music comes through in his production - his art is not just a 'back to basics' approach, but a refinement of purer and more direct styles that have been abandoned by the masses in favour of music with slick transitions and needless ornamentation. 'Faith' is jakbeat in its rawest form.

Stones Throw wunderkind James Pants with an album of song sketches and rhythmic ideas, produced in the same "late at night and high in my bedroom" style as his debut album, 'Welcome'. Presented as a genreless collection of "library music," elements of '80s boogie and old-school hip-hop are still the main components of Pants' arsenal. Most tracks are small explorations of big beats and squelching basslines that rarely exceed the two-minute mark, loaded with possibilities for like-minded outsider producers and adventurous DJs.

Volume 1 of the electrounique compilation series. Electronic and unique! The series does a great job of digging out the sort of cuts that might have played big on the cosmic dancefloor many years back. A very cool collection of hot and obscure club tracks.

Inspired by the Bruce Lee film of the same name, new five track EP 'The Way Of The Intercepting Fist' from Starting Teeth (aka Hrdvsion & Hopen) once again draws listeners into their off-balanced beatscape universe. Opener 'Weapons' features Oakland's versatile, bad-ass suburban rap queen K.Flay, who offers a killer interpretation of a wistful laidback stuttering hyphy cut with floating pads. Then comes 'Venom' and its mischievous sonic shrapnel, designed via super-editing techniques to assist you in reaching the very limits of consciousness, followed by Hrdvsion's remix of 'Weapons', with a booming thump beat and catchy melody made to emphasis the bounce at the heart of the tune. The flipside carries two new and exclusive remixes from ST's astonishing 'I Won't Do Anything I Can Do' debut album. With a westward wind, San Francisco's renowned genre abusing leftfield house producer Dave Aju re-edits 'Burn The Roof Tropical' into something tailor-made for a sweating dancefloor. Finally, cult London eclecticist and Nathan Fake's DJ partner Vincent Oliver serves an acid-fried mental techno remix of 'xxDone', tripping through darkness before bursting back into the light. 500 copy limited edition.

LJ Kruzer is Stephen Fiske, a resident of London, England, and producer of melodic electronic music, using the piano as a common theme, with a focus on ambience and synth drones. The son of a Wiltshire vicar, Kruzer began writing music on a Yamaha keyboard that his father used to accompany hymn singing in church, taking influence from the early work of Mouse On Mars, Tindersticks and Miles Davis. Following a string of well-received singles for Uncharted Audio and appearances on likeminded labels such as Ai, his debut album 'This Is How I Write' garnered critical acclaim from the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs and Mixmaster Morris and led to a memorable appearance at the Big Chill festival. Returning to the studio to create a more streamlined sound, where the emphasis moved from beats and melody to variations in sonic texture, drawing inspiration from a broad spectrum of contemporary electronic music and pioneers such as Brian Eno and Isao Tomita, the results can be heard on his second album 'Manhood & Electronics' digital-only taster for the album entitled "Tam Variations" which included eight experimental reworkings of one of the album tracks was an instant success and topped blog aggregator "The Hype Machine"'s 'most popular' chart. File next to: Stars of the Lid, Tobias Hume, Steve Reich, Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Fennesz

This is the first 7" off King Creosote's (aka Kenny Anderson) glossy new album 'Flick the V's'. Limited to only 500 copies and featuring two exclusive remixes, one by new head on the scene, 'Bullion', the other by Mr Anderson himself. Bullion comes in with an off kilter IDM offering that works nicely with Creosote's folky sound. It's intricate percussion with a nice kind of downbeat vocal that seams it all nicely together. The KC remix is a softer affair that for some reason sounds like I imagine the view out Of Creosote's coastal studio in Fife to look. With perhaps a few less seagulls. All in all two sides of plastic difficult to categorise but well worth having.

Warp rising star Clark's breakneck breakthrough new album. Chris Clark unleashes his boldest album yet, a mesh of breakneck dance music, baroque melodics and driving techno. It's also the first album to feature Chris' vocals. The album was preceded by the 'Growls Garden' EP, which was released in March to critical acclaim, and fans appetites have been whetted with the title track from that EP, which was given away free and is also on the album.

Debuting in summer 2004, Werk carefully selected an array of unkown talent with which to launch their first assalut on record buying senses. Mixing a blend of influences from London grimey business through to Detroit beat-driven technoid re-constructions, electroid mayhem, nervously modified break mashups and padded bass-stab devastation - marvel at the wondrous cut-ups of Actress (the sound of Robocop's anaerobic workout routine on crack), Byte Stripes (a media revolution via the medium of 10/8 jungle - killerstyles), Ben Codec (algorhythms on toast and ash-tray muesli bezerkerisms), Cut Out (genetically modified fidget-hop), Mr. Lizard (made from a sample patch based on the contours of Noel Edmonds' mullet!) and Format.K (tonic for the anguish of a thousand ecstasy-ravaged bird-brains). A record with a beginning, middle, an end and even a nervous breakdown.

Thirteen exclusive cuts from the best the UK's electronic music scene has to offer, including the likes of Si Begg, Neil Landstrumm, Plaid, King Cannibal, Cursor Miner, Beckett & Taylor and Dub Kult. Originally only available as a subscription series direct from the label, a handful of copies are still unspoken for - there will be no repress and apart from a five track sampler, there is no digital, as Uncharted love the black stuff. Additionally, this is the only place you can pick up a vinyl copy of Plaid's amazing remix of LJ Kruzer's "Huba" which recently featured as the closing track on legendary US DJ and producer John Tejada's mix album for Fabric.
Complete sets will shortly be worth a mint on ebay, this is your last chance to grab them!

This strictly limited double A side 10inch is the second offering from Alan Dobson aka HUNGRYGHOST, WAX ON records very own master of predator sound. Futuristic dubstep vibes meet the dopest, hip hop infused beats and a grimey urban sound design of unique quality sure to haunt a bass bin next to you very soon.
Following up on the vibes of the much demanded digital two-tracker 'Waveshifter' (which got mad props from the worldwide dubstep massive as well as the mighty GORILLAZ soundsystem, Domu, Smith & Mighty and Mr. Scruff) and HUNGRYGHOST's wicked remix work for NIGHTMARES ON WAX on Warp earlier this year, this 10inch now unites the powerful lead tracks of both 'Waveshifter' and the lead tracks from the 2nd HUNGRYGHOST digital single 'C64 Dub'.
HUNGRYGHOST himself, Norfolk-born and now London resident by choice, former member of scratch dj / production team Def Tex, also releases tunes under the ARCADION moniker (on DC recordings) and works as a freelance multi media sound designer. The sonic world of HUNGRYGHOST is fueled by a deep fascination with computer technology and sampling culture.

After the release of the critically acclaimed 'Lemurian' by Lone, Dealmaker decided it was best to wait until they discovered an artist that was equal or better then what had come before. Now is that time and they're proud to introduce Keaver & Brause. For better or worse, Tom Keaver and Tom Brause probably have more to do with introducing the beat into beat music than anyone else. Keaver is a veteran of the Ceder studio system, known as a sound effects man but in fact, something of an innovator in electronic music. Brause, a dozen years younger and looking like a baby, has moved from Worksop to Berlin to London to Nottingham, working as a folk singer, and session musician, and is becoming more and more interested in beat sculpting. Their debut album 'The Middle Way' twists a broad spectrum of elements to create hip hop founded electronics that relish the use of hazy samples and spiraling rhythms. Landing somewhere between Dabrye, Lukid and BOC, 'The Middle Way' is drenched in the sound of a youth spent locked in the studio - crafting the kind of intricately plotted instrumentals that unfold with textured detail, yet never hurry their slow-burn predilection. Alongside the likes of Lone, Paul White and Bullion, Keaver & Brause are at the vanguard of new producers aiming to snap your neck through persuasion over precision.

Prefuse 73 (aka Guillermo Scott Herren) is one of the most renowned producers around today. This EP follows his critically acclaimed album 'Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian', and contains three brand new tracks, as well as two radical reworkings of tracks from his album. Limited to 300 copies on vinyl this is one to get hold of quickly.

Spyros Polychronopoulos aka Spyweirdos is arguably the best known contemporary Greek experimental electronic producer, with five previous albums to his name since 2003, who has collaborated with or been remixed by some of today's most important sound artists, including Alva Noto, Funckarma, Octex, Hecq, B. Fleischmann, Ollie Olsen, Traject, and Murcof. At present he is completing a PhD on acoustics and noise control. 'Ten Letters' is the follow up to last year's thematically-related 'Ten Numbers', itself an album based on field recordings with very tense parts. 'Ten Letters' is his most abstract work by far with distorted fields and high frequencies creating the melodic elements, taking the pair of "Ten" concept recordings on to a different level.

Also included is a DVD of 10 short films created to accompany the respective CD tracks, in the same mood as the audio with abstract layers and landscapes building geometrical shapes.

In parallel with 'Ten Numbers', 'Ten Letters' develops emotional sonic landscapes from a combination of minimal glitch electronica and acoustic instrumentation, eschewing Spyweirdos' previous flirtation with 4x4 beats and minimal techno, and instead focussing on depth of sound and atmosphere with smart transitions from acoustic to electronic sound collages. This marriage of acoustic and digital electronic takes place with extreme virtuosity, with the result being full of contradictions, bringing in mind the transition between day and night, hope and desperation, something obvious also through the videos which oscillate between black and white, light and darkness. The landscape is at times familiar, at others unknown and distant, a point where past and future meet... a most mature work, taking the listener through paths which lead sometimes to the sentimentality of electronica, and at others to the awe of academic electroacoustic music. Post-production by Murcof.

Traject is the working name of Icelandic minimal ambient techno and electroacoustic experimental composer Gisli Thor Gudmundsson, whose only previous solo release was the 2004 mini-album 'Strengir Hrynja' on Zurich label spezial material, a record which won favourable comparisons to Autechre, Gescom and Ken Ishii. Igloo Magazine described Traject's work as "slow dancing to geological time shifts where epochs are compressed down into sonic history lessons and the pop and click of shifting rock evolves alongside the hiss and hum of changing weather and lunar wave patterns", while The Wire said "this superb debut is a small masterpiece of abstract, deep sea techno, recalling the golden moments of 90s Intelligent Dance Music... there's an immense sonic depth and range on display in these pieces, a hyperreal opulence that makes for an experience almost too delicous to indulge in without feeling guilty. Now joining Ceative Space, his first full album is one of the most ambitious releases yet for the adventurous Athenean label. Offering 14 tracks of ice cold electronics, ritualistic ambient techno and obscure rhythmical experiments, 'Birting' is seriously some of the most epically impressive left-field electronica to be heard in recent years.

Yet more first rate digital bass sounds incoming, this time courtesy of Edinburgh's Big Toe's Hi-Fi crew. The original version is an old-school hip hop inspired soundsystem swinger, with a sweet vocal from Leeds legend Danny Diamond winding up over C-Biscuit's minimalist booming bass production. A proper rootical ticklah for all fans of the Jahtari and Scotch Bonnet labels. On the Addicted To The Bass version, C-Biscuit picks up the crumbs for a radical remix with Edinburgh's own bass baker Neil Landstrumm riding shotgun. Danny's vocals are covered in thick chocolate and the low end levels get rough through a Space Echo unit to create a special recipe of haunted dancehall jammin' for the 09. Now in full national distribution through Cargo, this heavy 7" has already been doing the rounds for a few weeks, with airplay on Vic Galloway's Radio One Scotland show, nuff internet station exposure, and positive DJ feedback from Kode 9, Disrupt, Mungo's Hi-Fi, Adrian Sherwood, Andrew Weatherall, Toddla T, Youngsta, Rob Da Bank, and more.

Easily Kid606's most accomplished record to date, 'Shout At The Doner' combines all the brash and exciting plunderphonic and sampledelic elements he is best known for with a whole new world of uncharacteristically musical and danceable hooks and styles which are both fresh and timeless. 606 draws on some of his biggest electronic influences like LFO, AFX, Mike Ink, Green Velvet, Mouse on Mars, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, Shizuo, Mr. Oizo and Giorgio Moroder, to make bold and powerful songs about... the decline of America, leaving California, broken hearts, drunken hook-ups, social phobias, soulless partying, economic downfall, gnarly basslines, ego worship, moving to Berlin, diva vocals, Baltimore Club, obsessive compulsive disorder, the best parts of horror movies, acidhouse, ADHD, shameless irony, speed garage, megalomania, LSD, satanism and the ever prevalent doner kebab, arguably Europe's best late night cuisine. We think this release is the Kid's first successful stab at what we like to call "schizotronics" actually combining elements of many different dance music styles into new songs without pretension, trying too hard to fit into any trendy genre, or losing the joy and energy of the driving beats and basslines that make music so much fun in the first place. Maybe it's intelligent dance music for people who thought they didnt like intelligent dance music, maybe it's unintelligent vacant technopunk trash. Kid606 is headlining the Overkill stage on July 18th at Glade 2009, as well as playing clubs and festivals across Europe, UK, Japan, China and Australia all year long.

LIMITED RE-PRESS. Blu Mar Ten have been widely acknowledged and respected since their early releases on Good Looking and occupy a unique position being considered Kings of Chill Out and Dons of the Drum and Bass scene all at the same time. Fully paid up members of the Blu Mar Ten fan club include Ben Watt, Tom Middleton (who included 'All Over Again' on his compilation for Renaissance - One More Tune), Pete Lawrence, Doc Scott and Teebee. 'If this was a soundtrack then the movie directors would be spielberg, ridley scott and ang lee! Epic and intense with visually stunning and deeply moving scenes.' Tom Middleton

Following the success of their previous three releases, Keep Up! spring into Summer 2009 with Beat Dispenser, the first full release from Paraguayan funksters Lopez. After winning fans around the world with their past output, which include last years sleeper smash Barrio, Beat Dispenser sees Lopez toning down the Latin flavour, and flexing their production muscles to deliver a wonderfully layered and lush sounding five track EP of 80s influenced synth-based hip hop (think Dam-Funk meets Danny Breaks). Swinging between the downtempo stylings of Music, the plodding basslines of Mulato and the sharp stabs of head nodder Theo's Beat, the EP's centrepiece is the synth ripping, vocoder beating Jellybean, leaving you unsure whether you should be bumping and grinding or breaking out your best moves on the lino. This confusion doesn't last long, once long time Keep Up! friend and Tru Thoughts wonder Hint interrupts proceedings with his remix of Jellybean, ramping up the two step drums, and leaving the dancefloor shaking from the reworked bassline.